A woman has been searching for answers after a DoorDash driver scrawled the numbers “514” on the facade of her home during a delivery.
“Ordered food today… the driver came to deliver it but then wrote 514 above my garage in permanent marker,” a Reddit user known as Yellowenthusiastt wrote alongside a photo of the baffling case of vandalism.
She added: “It was all caught on camera. I’m just really confused lol.”
In a separate post, the user shared a seven-second clip of security footage documenting the food delivery driver’s actions throughout the day.
A confused DoorDash customer took to Reddit in search of answers after a driver for the food delivery service wrote the numbers ‘514’ on the facade of her home
The driver took the time to remove a permanent marker from his car after delivering her order, thus committing the strange act of vandalism
In the video, the DoorDash driver can be seen walking up to the house with a black plastic bag containing the delivery receipt.
But instead of simply driving away, the man reportedly returned to his vehicle and grabbed the marker before walking back to the house and writing it with the numbers.
Only after tagging the home with “514” did he finally leave the property, the user said.
One of the most popular speculations in the more than 3,500 comments was the theory that the number was some kind of symbol that marked the home as a prime choice for would-be robbers.
As one of the most liked comments put it: ‘If someone from a South American country, like a thief here in my country, sees a house that could contain things of value, they mark it to rob it later, usually with more people. , they use different symbols and codes to inform about what is in the house (for example: dog, armed owner, high-end technology, art, etc.)’
“I don’t know how likely it is where you live, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw it: stay safe,” the user added.
The original poster (OP for short) replied, “I’ve heard of this stuff and I’m not going to lie, it crossed my mind. I don’t live in the nicest/safest place, but I can’t imagine anyone doing this here. But thank you very much, luckily I don’t live alone.’
However, in another comment, she confirmed that she reported the incident to police — and also to DoorDash — just to be sure.
The Redditer, who goes by the name u/goldenthusiastt, was completely in the dark about the meaning of the number
Redditors put forward several theories about the meaning behind the DoorDash driver’s action, but few could hold up in light of the observable facts surrounding the incident
Others speculated that perhaps the delivery person, acting out of decidedly misplaced good intentions, had tried to scribble OP’s house number on the front of the house after noticing that none were visible.
But even though OP admitted that they “don’t have our house numbers (this was an old house that we’re still trying to fix),” she continued to emphasize that “514 is not our address.”
She further speculated, “I could tell if he was trying to be helpful and set up house numbers for us, but… I don’t want the wrong number on the side of my house. Hopefully this is all just a misunderstanding.’
Someone else suggested that perhaps the driver didn’t feel like making their next delivery – if it was hypothetically to an address starting with ‘514’ – and that they might have written down the number to ‘just take a fake photo of the delivery ‘.
But that theory didn’t hold up either, because the security footage didn’t show the man pausing after the act to take a photo of his artistic venture.
An amateur sleuth bombarded OP with different ideas about the meaning of the number.
‘I want to ask you. Does 514 mean anything to you? Was that the time of delivery? Was it your number? Your adress? How much tip did you give? Anything you can think of? Do you have five things visible from the street? Is 514 your door code?’ They wrote.
‘I thought of everything, and to all those people: no. I have no idea,” the OP replied.
In this thread, another speculator intervened, pointing out that, according to a Google search, ‘514 is a ‘guardian angel number’ so they could be a religious note, which would tie in with the writing above the entrance to a house as a religion often done to ward off evil. There was always a chance that in his mind he would ‘do you a religious favor.’
Regardless, the real reason behind the DoorDash driver’s strange act remains a mystery.
DailyMail.com has reached out to DoorDash for comment on the matter.